By Zephyria Leonardo, who had been blankly frozen for a while, covered himself with the bedding again with a serious look. He stared at the white blanket with a complicated mind, and then stopped thinking uselessly and looked at Hugo again.
It wasn’t like this had happened once or twice without reason, and there was nothing strange about it at all. However, he couldn’t help but feel awkward because he didn’t want to know that his body was healthy as soon as he opened his eyes.
‘Is it because blood is suddenly circulating in my body?’
His heart rate must have increased as he regained consciousness, so it was natural for blood circulation to speed up. Leonardo tried to shake off the confusion with a subtle expression, attaching plausible reasons.
Then, with a thought that suddenly flashed through his mind, he lifted the bedding greatly again. He wondered if he had seen it wrong, but he was wearing a navy blue combat uniform.
It was quite large and the sleeves were long enough to cover his palms. Moreover, the strong scent emanating from the clothes almost matched the body odor of someone he knew well. Just in case, he smelled the scent on the sleeve, and as expected, it seemed to be the Legion Commander’s combat uniform.
‘……?’
Leonardo, who had buried his mouth and nose, glanced up and stared at Hugo with questioning eyes.
There was no immediately apparent reason why he was wearing this among so many clothes, and why he was wearing this person’s clothes. But as he pulled the bedding up to his chin and pondered, he felt like he had found the answer in another aspect.
Ah, if he was wearing clothes that smelled strongly of someone else, he wouldn’t be able to help but be conscious of it, even if it was subconsciously.
It just so happened that Agrizendro was lying close to him, and it was a bit embarrassing, so he seemed to have become conscious of it without realizing it. His sleeping face looked a bit more innocent than usual, but what was he saying. Anyway, it seemed best not to think about this person anymore.
The reason his lower body was trying to create was abruptly cut off by his rationality. Leonardo, who decided to brush it off somehow, decided to postpone waking Hugo for the time being.
Facing someone in this state was quite awkward for him. Moreover, judging by the fact that the Legion Commander was deeply asleep, which was rare, he seemed quite tired.
Eventually, Leonardo, lying back down with the back of his head on the pillow, stared blankly at the ceiling with narrowed eyes. It wouldn’t matter if he were alone, but if this continued, it would be embarrassing in many ways.
He counted the patterns in the ceiling, trying to distract himself as much as possible. However, perhaps because he had been holding back for quite a while before waking up, the stiff and full feeling didn’t go away easily.
‘I think I need to go to the bathroom.’
He almost remembered what he had last seen before falling asleep, something important, but he completely forgot it because of the situation. Leonardo, dumbfounded, blinked his eyes, wondering if he should sing a military song in his head, but decided against it.
However, it didn’t seem like lying here would solve the problem quickly, and his arm and leg muscles were twitching from how long he had been lying down. Feeling restless beyond just being stiff, he finally decided it would be better to get up and look around, so he propped himself up on his arms.
But of all things, he habitually put his weight on his left arm. The terrible pain he had forgotten pierced through his nerves as if punishing his foolishness.
“Ah—!”
The hoarse voice that came out reflexively echoed briefly in the quiet space. Fortunately, it wasn’t too loud, so it didn’t wake the person next to him, but because the weight was only on one side, the unused muscles seemed surprised. The entire injured left arm felt like it was being torn apart.
Suddenly, a memory vaguely flashed at the ‘tearing feeling,’ but he didn’t have time to recall it because his unbalanced upper body was leaning forward. As Hugo’s sleeping face rapidly approached, Leonardo’s thoughts momentarily stopped, and he was silently horrified.
“……!”
The last remaining reflexes extended his right hand before his brain could react. Fortunately, he managed to touch the floor with a thud just in time.
However, because he barely managed to touch the floor beyond the Legion Commander’s head, he was about to fall directly on the sleeping person.
‘…Shit.’
Leonardo looked down at Hugo with his heart pounding, ignoring the pain in his shoulder.
Because the other person was lying on his side, the height of his shoulder, which stood like a wall, was considerable. So, he stretched his arm upwards to avoid touching him and awkwardly maintained his balance.
Because of the strange posture, the distance became so close that he could see every single eyelash. On top of that, perhaps because his face looked so damn innocent today, he couldn’t put proper strength into his supporting arms.
His whole body trembled, but Leonardo gritted his teeth and struggled not to fall, as he would inevitably collide with some part of him if he wasn’t careful.
He didn’t want to be a weirdo who, as soon as he opened his eyes, would rush at the person next to him with his lower body erect. And even more so if that person was the Legion Commander of the Council, who seemed like the epitome of abstinence.
‘I’m going crazy.’
Leonardo, who had been unconscious for three days and had only been awake for less than five minutes, felt dizzy, his head was spinning, and cold sweat was pouring down. However, he had to defuse this situation somehow, so he staggered and slowly lifted his right hand, which had been on the floor, relying on his mental strength.
Unbelievable pain rushed into his left arm again, but at this moment, his pride came before the pain. He strained his neck and successfully lifted his right arm over Hugo’s head.
But as if fate was playing a trick on him, he heard footsteps from outside. Someone was approaching quickly.
‘First, to the Commander…….’
‘Last time you said….’
The voices of two people talking flickered, and several salutes echoed quite loudly right outside the door. Because he heard them calling someone ‘Vice Commander,’ Leonardo, who still hadn’t retracted his arm, became stiff.
If the Legion Commander’s Vice Commander came near here, the next destination was clear.
As soon as that thought occurred to him, his mind went blank.
Creak—
“Because you’ve been busy with various things lately. I have no idea where you are even now—.”
Since Hugo was always in a meeting outside at this time, Flynn naturally thought Leonardo would be alone and opened the door without knocking. However, as he entered, he had to stop abruptly after taking two or three steps.
Cordelia, who had followed Flynn to the door, also stopped in her tracks because he had stopped, about to take a step forward. Cordelia, peering over Flynn’s shoulder, asked him cautiously with a puzzled look.
“What’s wrong? Is something the matter….”
“Ah, well—.”
Flynn hurriedly turned around and put his index finger to his lips, gesturing for her to be quiet. It was because he saw the back of the Commander, who was lying motionless with his back to them.
However, Flynn belatedly remembered that Cordelia was a noble and quickly took his finger away, bowing apologetically. At the same time, he subtly gestured towards the outside, blocking the door as if to say let’s go out, and whispered.
“I think the Commander is sleeping. Let’s go out and talk.”
As Flynn lowered his voice, Cordelia, blinking her eyes, stretched her neck and looked inside.
Everyone who knew anything knew that Hugo hadn’t slept much for the past few days. So, the fact that he was sleeping was rather good news. However, Cordelia still wondered about His Excellency’s intentions, as she didn’t expect him to be sleeping next to Leonardo, and nodded at Flynn’s words.
The two stopped talking and walked carefully, gently closing the door of the cabin. Flynn was inwardly considering whether to cover him with a blanket, but he chose to leave quietly because the internal temperature was high and he was a light sleeper.
Thud—
As soon as the door closed, silence returned as if nothing had happened. Hugo remained still with his eyes closed, not waking up even at the small commotion.
Leonardo, lying in front of Hugo, curled up and stared at him with trembling eyes, holding his breath.
He had succeeded in getting out of the misunderstanding-prone position before Flynn saw him, but there wasn’t enough time to go back to his original position and lie down. Because of that, Leonardo had no choice but to lie flat next to the Legion Commander, and as soon as he heard Flynn’s voice, he desperately wished for him to go away.
He didn’t know why he was so anxious like a criminal, but he just instinctively felt that this situation shouldn’t be discovered. Still, thanks to the Legion Commander’s broad shoulders hiding him, it seemed that this side wasn’t visible from where Flynn was standing.
The sound of footsteps faded away again. Leonardo closed his eyes tightly in relief and then opened them.
His appearance, lying with his head half on the pillow, would never be natural if someone else saw it. Two large men sharing a pillow and facing each other was a sight that even colleagues would find disgusting and might even throw a punch over.
Tick-tock—
The small ticking sound of the clock was very loud in the quiet room. Perhaps because the tension had been released, Leonardo couldn’t move for a while and lay there.
The incoming sunlight lazily shone on the upper bodies of the two people who were close together. Fine dust floating in the air reflected the light and sparkled.
They floated leisurely in the room and gently landed around the chin of the sleeping Hugo. Leonardo’s gaze also slowly followed them down.
The firm lower jaw and lips swept by the sunlight were in an awkwardly matched position with the Gold Eyes slightly below.
Unconsciously, Leonardo reached out to Hugo and lightly brushed away the dust on his chin. However, when he checked his hand, there was nothing on it, so he wondered if he had seen it wrong.
He sighed softly and tensed his neck to return to his place. He slightly lifted his head in that state and looked up at Hugo’s face.
At that moment, Leonardo’s shoulders visibly flinched.
“…….”
“…….”
He could directly meet the blue eyes looking down at him.